Queer Places:
56 W 55th St, New York, NY 10019
345 St Pierre Rd, Los Angeles, CA 90077
282 S Lasky Dr, Beverly Hills, CA 90212
Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Glendale, Los Angeles County, California, USA
James Matthew Larmore II aka James Lorimer (November 8, 1910 - December 23, 1965) had leading parts in several Broadway productions and was active in Civic Theater plays. For a time he was under contract to one of the major Hollywood studios. Little is known of Larmore, with whom Alexandra Corliss Brackett eloped in 1942. He is credited with small roles in four Broadway productions: Russet Mantle (1936), Daughters of Atreus (1936), Good Hunting (1938), and Winged Victory (1943). In a diary entry dated May 2, 1955, Christopher Isherwood writes that Larmore "used to be a chorus boy and it showed;" relative to his dancing. In April 1946, Brackett obtained work for him as a production assistant at Paramount and was able to promote him to the small role of Lieutenant Hornby in A Foreign Affair (1948). Billy Wilder biographer Maurice Zolotow describes him as "a person of charm and talent when he was sober who became a monster when drunk." Larmore died of an alcoholic convulsion in Detroit while en route to visit relatives in Cleveland.
James Lorimer was born on November 8, 1910 in Anderson, Indiana. While living in New York, he shared an apartment with Robert Blair Taylor. James Matthew Larmore was a corporal in the army of the US during WWII. He married Alexandra Corliss Brackett. After marrying, he lived at 282 Lasky Drive, Beverly Hills.
As an actor, using the name James Lorimer, he appeared on the Broadway stage in "Russet Mantle" (1936), "Daughters of Atreus" (1936), "Good Hunting" (1938) and "Winged Victory" (1943-44). He also appeared in the Billy Wilder-directed film "A Foreign Affair" (1948, starring Jean Arthur, Marlene Dietrich and John Lund), in the role of Lieutenant Hornby, The Mating Season (1951) and The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955).
There was something dark behind Charles Brackett's glory. "It was a very weird, dark, Hollywood drama," said Gavin Lambert, who, as a young writer in Hollywood, was embraced by Brackett and his crowd. "Charlie was one of the first people I met when I came out here. I'd go to the Sunday lunches at his house. They were all very Hollywood establishment. I got to know Charlie fairly well. There was a certain subtext between us. We didn't have to discuss it. He knew I was gay, I knew he was." What Lambert didn't know for certain, however, was the exact nature of the relationship between Charlie and the young man who acted as his assistant on several pictures, the young man Charlie had arranged to marry his daughter Alexandra Corliss Brackett, or "Zan," as everyone called her. His name was James Matthew Larmore. Photographs reveal a strikingly handsome youth with deep-set eyes and full lips. He'd appeared in the play "Russet Mantle" and come to Hollywood as part of the "Winged Victory" company after WWII, whereupon he acted in several pictures before becoming Brackett's assistant. And son-in-law. And most likely lover. Lambert stated he believed the stories of a lover relationship between Brackett and Larmore to be true. Christopher Isherwood believed them as well. "It was an accepted fact among everyone," said Isherwood's lover, Don Bachardy, who was often both guest and host of Brackett. The playwright John Van Druten, a mutual friend, reportedly knew the affair as a fact, having been a confidant of borth Brackett and Larmore. "One just knew," said Bachardy. "They'd be together and one just knew. It's not as if we could have asked him. It was out of the question to be intimate in that wasy with Charlie."
James Matthew Larmore died unexpectedly en route from his Los Angeles home to Cleveland OH, to visit his mother and sister for the holidays. He was survived by them, as well as his son, James Larmore III. His wife, Alexandra Corliss Larmore, had died after a fall in November 1965, just one month prior to his own death.
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